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Today the IVT for the secondary payloads and the IMAX cargo bay camera is being performed. The orbiter docking system (ODS) electrical connections have been completed. A functional check is scheduled for Friday. On Saturday, the astronauts will conduct the Crew Equipment Interface Test (CEIT). The Russian MIR-2 Docking Module was installed into the payload bay of Atlantis late yesterday.

The electrical connections are now being established. The Interface Verification Test (IVT) to verify those connections is now scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday next week. A state-of-health check will follow on Thursday.

Payload closeouts will begin on Sept. 25 and the payload bay doors will be closed for flight on or about Sept. 27.

In other work, technicians continue installing heat shields around the three main engines. In the Vehicle Assembly Building, the external tank was mated to the solid rocket boosters yesterday as scheduled.

Discovery/OV-103 OPF Bay 1

Work continues to deconfigure and deservice Discovery in preparation for the ferry flight to Palmdale. The ferry flight OMS pods will be installed tomorrow, the payload bay doors closed on Friday or Saturday, and the ferry flight tail cone installed next week. Discovery will be towed to the Shuttle Landing Facility on Sept. 25 for mating to the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The ferry flight is scheduled to begin on Sept. 26.

STS-69

At NASA Hangar AF on Cape Canaveral Air Station, the solid rocket booster nozzles were shipped to Thiokol this morning at 5:30 a.m. where detailed inspections will be performed. At Hangar AF, initial inspections of the case to nozzle joints did not reveal anything of concern. Disassembly of the remaining solid rocket booster segments begins today.

Malfunction analysis of Endeavour’s No. 2 fuel cell has been completed and did not reveal the source of the problem which caused the cell to be removed and replaced. Because the replaced fuel cell on orbit is functioning normally, a cooling system problem on the orbiter is unlikely. Engineers are looking into other possibilities which might have caused the problem.